Academic Honesty Policy

“Plagiarism is the practice of taking and using, without acknowledgement, as one’s own, the thoughts, data, or writings of another.”

FVSU’s current policies and practices regarding plagiarism and academic dishonesty:

Student Academic Dishonesty

Expulsion or suspension from the University or any lesser sanction may be imposed for the commission of offenses involving cheating or defraud on examinations. Examples of such offenses include giving assistance not authorized by the instructor in the preparation of an essay, laboratory report, examination or other assignment included in an academic course; taking or attempting to take, steal, or otherwise procure in an unauthorized manner, any material pertaining to the conduct of a class, including but not limited to examinations, laboratory experiments, and roll books; and plagiarizing.

Plagiarism

The appropriation of someone else’s ideas, passages arguments, interpretation of events or factual information, in either hard copy or electronically, demonstrates a lack of integrity and is unacceptable at Fort Valley State University. Other examples of plagiarism include submitting someone else’s work/assignment as one’s own, submitting purchased papers as one’s own, and submitting papers from the Internet as one’s own. Students who are guilty of plagiarism are subject to disciplinary action. Acts of plagiarism must be reported to the Department Head, Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Vice President for Student Affairs for appropriate action. (2006 – 2008 Fort Valley State University Undergraduate Catalog, 71-72.)

All students in the University System of Georgia are expected to maintain high standards of academic honesty. It is dishonest to take the work of others and to pass it off as your own. For FVSU students, there are serious penalties for academic dishonesty. For more information, please refer to the FVSU Student Handbook.

(Your instructor will state the penalty for plagiarism, or cheating of any kind, in your class.)

Plagiarism Prevention Technology

Many classes will use plagiarism prevention technology. Students may have the option of submitting papers online through a plagiarism prevention service or of allowing the instructor to submit hard copies of their papers. The papers may be retained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagiarized content in future student submissions.